[ He knows this technique — like an old friend by this point, except Peter still tips so close towards panic that it's easy to forget. Having someone there to remind him, a voice speaking it to him..... helps. In through his nose, hold, slowly breathe out. In, hold, out.
He does, his breaths slow and thick and very audible through the phone. If there were any part of him to get embarrassed for needing to be talked down from slipping towards panic, that part is long gone by now.
He listens to the man's voice, the shape of his accent, familiar in its way by now. And after a few moments, his heart is calmer; his grip on his Fluid isn't so tight. ]
Okay. Okay. [ He voices that he's okay so they'll both know it. Even as all of this adds up to something horrible; Peter... knows something bad happened to John because of him. Even if he hasn't been told the exact shape of it yet. Did he.... die because of him? Somehow? Death follows the boy like an illness, after all. There's a longer pause before Peter asks, very quietly. ]
Do you need me to... stay away from you for awhile? Because of him?
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He does, his breaths slow and thick and very audible through the phone. If there were any part of him to get embarrassed for needing to be talked down from slipping towards panic, that part is long gone by now.
He listens to the man's voice, the shape of his accent, familiar in its way by now. And after a few moments, his heart is calmer; his grip on his Fluid isn't so tight. ]
Okay. Okay. [ He voices that he's okay so they'll both know it. Even as all of this adds up to something horrible; Peter... knows something bad happened to John because of him. Even if he hasn't been told the exact shape of it yet. Did he.... die because of him? Somehow? Death follows the boy like an illness, after all. There's a longer pause before Peter asks, very quietly. ]
Do you need me to... stay away from you for awhile? Because of him?